Wild Food Larder

I am still obsessively picking and stripping one of early autumn’s abundent wild fruits, creating unusual and neglected recipes for storage over the long winter months.

Today we have concentrated on an Elderberry Ketchup recipe

Elderberry Ketchup

500g washed elderberries

150ml white malt vinegar

300g sugar

4 cloves garlic

4 cloves

1 piece mace

1 inch piece root ginger

2 fresh bay leaes

1 strip fresh rosemary

i strip fresh sage

1 tsp salt

6 peppercorns

Method

Measure all ingredients into a suitable saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer for about one hour.

Dtrain all the bits out and return liquid into a clean saucepan and reduce till a syrupy consistancy.

Pour into a sterilised bottle. Cool and refridgerate.

As a wild fruit the Elderberry, of the genus (Sambucus nigra) Elder has over many thousands of years been used both nutritionally and medicinally. My interest in this berry are both nutritional and its ability to be part of my diverse wild food larder.

My version of Elderberry cordial is directly and methodically laborious and exacting, i have left nothing to chance and everything has been measured.

We are at the peak of the elderberry harvest now here in the west country having suffered more rain than a larger proportion of southern England. Many trees and their foliage are losing pigment and heavy bracts of fruit hang  on their branches. It is noticeable to see when the fruit is at its best as the bracts are full and the branches begin to darken from green to purple.

Elderberry cordial

Part one

2 kilos elderberries picked and washed

2 litres water

Method for part one:

1.In a heavy bottomed saucepan add both the berries and water. fit on a lid and bring to a slow simmer. Cook out for one hour. turn off heat and leave to cool overnight.

2. Pour berries and water through a pair of tights, pillow case, muslin or if you have one a jelly bag and leave to drain again all day or overnight.

Part two

300g unrefined brown sugar per 500ml liquid you can use granulated if economy is important

4 star anise

20 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 cm square piece of fresh root ginger i weighed at between 5-10g

Method

1.Add all ingredients to the liquid and bring up to a simmer.

2.Remove from the heat and leave to infuse and cool. At this point add a sachet of citric acid add a Camden tablet, stir to dissolve.

3. Pour into sterilised bottles and store in a cool and dark place. Shelf life on these should be about three months.

Directions for use.

Elderberry cordial is fabulous as both a cold and hot drink. during the colder months it can be warmed through with the addition of winter fruits and orange as a non alcoholic mulled drink or simply diluted.

Alternatively utilise the cordial as an addition to pies and pudding, sauces and gravies.

Dried Elderberries

Dried elderberries are nutritionall fantastic as very high in Vitamins A,B & C.

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It has always surprised me that one cannot buy products such as these from shops and delis alike. I love em and a real treat there are.  I have designed a number of different recipes for a white sausage and this variety is just one of.

Mushroom season is upon us and i love giant puffballs to eat, being so versatile as they are. It still Surprises me  though so few English people know what they are and what possibilities they hold

Pork and giant puffball boudin blanc

Ingredients

500g white pork meat

500g flair fat

200g puffball

100g butter

100g diced onion

2 tsp white pepper

Chopped parsley

5 egg whites

15 floz milk

2 fresh bay leaves

2 sprigs thyme

Method

1. Mince the pork through fine plate followed by the flair fat
2. Remove from mincer into food processor and whizz until amalgamated and almost whitey pink in colour.
3. Melt butter and add onion followed by the blitzed puffball
4. In a separate pan bring  milk thyme and bay to the boil
5. Remove and pour onto the onion and mushroom mix. Give a quick whizzz before refrigerating until  quite cold
6. In your magimix add all or part of the now cold meat paste, to this begin adding the egg whites and onion and milk mixture.
7. Repeat untill all are combined.
8. All that is needed now is to pipe either into hog skins or piped onto clingfilm to be rolled up into sausage shapes. I prefer hog skins.
9. Now poach for twelve to fifteen minutes

Once again my puffball spot has produced as regular as clockwork. Three weeks on the trot every Thursday has produced several mushrooms. This week as many as nine.

My imagination is running riot already in terms of recipes. If you would like to purchase some then attend Bath Farmers market this Saturday, at Green Park Station. I will have several related products and various wild fungi to sell.

Holy cow i found a dog and a load of space ships

400g wild mushrooms

This is one of only two of the Amanitas which are edible and good. However, it is always best to err on caution if in doubt of a fungus identification. The Blusher (Amanita rubescens) can be confused with the Panther (Amanita pantherina)

100g butter

2 fat cloves garlic

100g finel diced onion

1 tbl sp soy sauce

milled black pepper

100g butter

2 fat cloves garlic

100g finel diced onion

1 tbl sp soy sauce

milled black pepper

Method

1. Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan and add the  onion and garlic. Sweat off for five mins. Do not brown.

2. Add the already magimixed mushrooms and slowly cook out  with the onions. This will take forty five minutes.

3.As it reduces and thickens and the water evaporates away the mixture may stick. So be sure to stir occasionally.

4. Add the soy sauce and continue to cook out. The colour will darken.

5. You should finish with a thick paste like mushroom duxelle. Check for seasoning and chill until ready for use.

The wood pigeons are fattening themselves up around the county following another successful harvest. This is the time to be getting hold of a few and doing their flavoursome flesh  some justice.

The inspiration for this recipe came  about through making a wild mushroom duxelle.  As i was reducing the mushroom mixture, and on checking my larder fridge i realised i  still had a small quantity of my rich pigeon pate and some short crust pastry left  from quiche making a few days previous. the rest should be obvious i suppose but for you here are the instructions. Oh and the recipes for all components.

Pigeon pate

12 skinned breasts of wood pigeon

2x onions

4 cloves garlic

6 junioer berries

2 fresh bayleaves

200g butter

salt and black pepper

15ml double cream

Ingredients

1. Melt half the butter and saute the onions with the garlic for a few mins. Then add the chopped pigeon breasts and hearts and livers. /saute for just a few mins

2. Liquidise the above mixture adding the  remaining ingredients. Adjust seasoning to taste. Pour into suitable moulds and refridgerate.

As summer  draws to its climax, nature is full and in fruit. This time of year i move inexorably toward game in various forms. this week we  concentrate on Wood pigeon.

Since restaurants around the country have chosen to glorify and exploit this humble and cheap source of meat/ bird and turn it into the truffle of vermin, pigeon has gone from strength to strength. Yet in many ways it has been fucked about with over cooked and served with a strange and unneccesary variety of ingredients.

For all your information a whole wood pigeon costs from 30-50 pence per bird wholesale (on the feather) to £3-5 at a game dealer, farmers market etc which willl be dressed. However, you will never get the liver, and heart unless you know the shooter or person who butchered it. THAT person will have thrown the offal away.Wasteful Bastards…

For this entry though i have posted my dry cure for the breasts. These can then be hot or cold smoked later.

Dry Cure

300g sea salt

1 tbl sp brown sugar

12 juniper berries

3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary or thyme

1 tbl sp white peppercorns

2g Potassium nitrate(optional)

Method

1.In a coffe grinder or blender whizz up all ingredients barr the salt.

2.Now mix salt with whizz up bits.

3. Dust pigeon breasts in the  cure and place on a wire rack. Repeat

4. After 30mins remove breasts from cure and wash under cold water. Dry off with paper towel and leave to develop  a pellicle.

To Smoke

I have a Bradley cabinet smoker which i use for hot smoking which i set to cook at 80 degrees centigrade. I then add a quantity of oak shaving ligtly dampened. I thensmoke for one hour.

Once again due to a deluge of summer rain the autumn fungi season has begun early in this country. And again the season has started with  the usual suspects. Suileus leuteus better known as Slippery jacks, (Calvatia gigantea) Giant puff balls and (Marissmus oreades) Fairy ring mushroom.

A great many English chefs who have used wild fungi rarely give this humble mushroom a second chance due to its sometimes slimy appearance. However, i regard the majority of English chefs as un-educated and ignorant with respect to many of our wild fungi and plants(being generally obsessed with Chanterelles). Generally they will only be tackled by those chefs whose passion for food is tempered by an educated and adventurous palate and the desire to create.

for those fortunate enough to be able to find a quantity of slippery jacks i shall share with you the processes i believe transform this sometimes slippery fungi into something to be worthy of a gourmets plate.

Firstly one must remember that these fungi respond to greater rainfall than most and therefore will appear in huge numbers following persistent amounts of rain in the month of July.  Their growth is very quick and can mature within just  a few days. If picked during or following rain then there skin will be very slimy and shiny, quite unpleasant to many and off putting. However, if left to naturally dry before picking the skin will dry and become like any other fungi.  Other alternatives are to pick whilst wet, take home and partially dry using a De-hydrator

Slippery jacks entering my De-hydrator for twenty mins to remove excess moisture

A low oven is a suitable alternative if used very carefully and at the lowest temperature possible. This should be less than 35 degrees centigrade. Leave the door open a jar to help release steam.

The next stage involves cutting the mushrooms into  good bite size wedges before tossing in olive oil, broken sprigs of thyme and rosemary, cracked garlic cloves and a little sea salt and pepper.

Roast in a hot oven of 200 degrees centigrade for ten mins. Remove and transfer to a wire rack.

you will notice that the texture is firm, dry roasted ish with out slime and now ready to use. Especially useful in adding to risottos and stir fries.